WH-1 Mesopotamia: Lecture 2: Invasion, Persia, the Library of Ashurbanipal, and the Uruk Period
Part 1: Essential Questions
A.
The Middle East, including Mesopotamia and extending up through Afghanistan, has been called “the graveyard of empires.” Is this a welldeserved title?
B.
What are the lessons of ancient history for any country seeking to invade these areas?
C.
Why is Uruk so distinguished as the first known civilization?
Part II: Primary Source Material and Classnotes
But by far the most important step in the passage to civilization was writing. Bits of pots from
Neolithic remains show, in some cases, painted lines which several students have interpreted as signs.
This is doubtful enough; but it is possible that writing, in the broad sense of graphic symbols of specific thoughts, , began with marks impressed by nails or fingers upon the still soft clay to adorn or identify pottery. In the earliest Sumerian hieroglyphics the pictograph for bird bears a suggestive resemblance to the bird decorations on the oldest pottery at Susa, in Elam; and the earliest pictograph for grain is taken directly from the geometrical grain decoration of Susan and Sumerian vases. The linear script of
Sumeria, on its first appearance (ca. 3600 BC), is apparently an abbreviated form of the signs and pictures painted or impressed upon the primitive pottery of lower Mesopotamia and Elam. Writing, like painting and sculpture, is probably in its origin a ceramic art; it began as a form of etching and drawing, and the same clay that gave vases to the potter, figures to the sculptor and bricks to the builder, supplied writing materials to the scribe. From such a beginning to the cuneiform writing of Mesopotamia would be an intelligible and logical development.
Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, p. 104-105
If we return to our map and follow the combined Tigris and Euphrates from the Persian Gulf to where these historic streams diverge (at modern Kurna), and then follow the Euphrates westward, we shall find, north and south of it, the buried cities of ancient Sumeria: Eridu (now Abu Shahrein),
Ur (now Mukayyar), Uruk (Biblical Erech, now Warka), Larsa (Biblical Ellasar, now Senkereh),
Lagash (now Shippurla), Nippur (Niffer) and Nisin. Follow the Euphrates northwest to Babylon, once the most famous city of Mesopotamia (“the land between the rivers”); observe, directly east of it, Kish, site of the oldest culture known in this region; then pass some sixty miles farther up the
Euphrates to Agade, capital, in ancient days, of the kingdom of Akkad. The early history of
Mesopotamia is in one aspect the struggle of the non-Semitic peoples of Sumeria to preserve their

independence against the expansion and inroads of the Semites from Kish and Agade and other centers in the North. In the midst of their struggles these varied stocks unconsciously, perhaps unwillingly, cooperated to produce the first extensive civilization known to history, and one of the most creative and unique.
Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, p. 118
1) The history of Mesopotamia is not the history of the advancement of stable nations, but rather the story of INVADERS (e.g., EGYPTIANS,
HITTITES, and ASSYRIANS) who, attracted by the richness of the land, overwhelmed and defeated the current occupants, produced great kings, priests, and lawgivers, and then were likewise
DISPLACED by a new wave of invaders.
2) Of these, the Assyrians were the most WARLIKE of all peoples; similar to SPARTA, it may be that the focus of the entire civilization was
MILITARISTIC. As a result, until relatively recently many students of ancient history believed the Assyrians to be culturally STERILE.
3) However, although the Assyrians did create the first known purely MILITARY EMPIRE, used mounted CAVALRY, chariots, IRON WEAPONS, and made their name a synonym for TERROR, they are now seen as competent ARTISTS and
WRITERS. This change in perception is based on the discovery of CARVINGS and the massive clay tablet library of King ASHURBANIPAL (we’ll have more to say about this in just a moment!)

4) Next came the MEDES, who were longhaired
INDO-EUROPEANS who created the new
BABYLONIAN EMPIRE (the one that took the
Hebrews into captivity), which was also known for tremendous building projects.
5) The heirs of these empires and contributions were the PERSIANS, who established a world empire that lasted 11 centuries until the coming of ISLAM in the 7 th century CE. The empire originated with
CYRUS THE GREAT; subsequent emperors conquered EGYPT, ETHIOPIA, and LIBYA.
6) The Persian Emperor DARIUS was the leader who first attempted an invasion of EUROPE from ASIA
MINOR; these were the Persians that the
GREEKS faced during the crisis we will learn about later.
7) The Persian Empire—as faced by the Greeks, extended from Egypt and Macedonia in the WEST to India in the EAST; from Arabia and the Persian
Gulf in the SOUTH to the Caspian and Black Sea in the NORTH—about the size of the UNITED
STATES.
8) Persian laws, religion, language and culture left an
INDELIBLE mark on civilization. Their religion had TWO Gods; one of LIGHT, and one of
DARKNESS—through HEBREW theology they have influenced contemporary ideas of GOOD and

EVIL. There were 21 provinces (SATRAPIES) and four capitals for administration with a remarkably good ROAD network to facilitate communication— a magistrate could travel 1500 miles in 7 days. We will return to the Persians a bit later…
9)
For the moment, let’s revisit Assyria and the famous library of king ASHURBANIPAL (ca. 668-
627 BCE). He was Assyria’s King at the height of its military power, and is called SARDANAPALUS in Greek and Asnapper and Osnapper
BIBLICALLY. Despite his military accomplishments, he is best known today for establishing a great LIBRARY at the city of
NINEVAH.
10) Discovered in the mid-19 th century, the library is partially intact, with about 20 to 30K
CUNEIFORM tablets comprising about 1200 texts.
This was not the first such library, but it is the largest, most complete library to survive to modern times. The library is now in the possession of the
British Museum and the Iraq Department of
Antiquities.
11) Invaders buried Ashurbanipal’s library many centuries before the founding of the great library at
Alexandria (EGYPT). The burial was crucial for preserving the library, which was arranged like a
MODERN library. Specific rooms were devoted to
HISTORY, government—including the records of

SPIES and a chronological list of Assyrian rulers,
RELIGION, magic, GEOGRAPHY, science, and poetry. This included the process of
COLLECTION and CATALOGUING that predated European library science by centuries.
12) In a discussion that will assist you with you
Durant project, we will now elaborate upon what is meant by the term “civilization” and how this definition is applicable to the earliest
Mesopotamian cultures.
13) Recall that Mesopotamia has as its closest
English equivalent the land between two rivers; in this case, the TIGRIS and the EUPHRATES.
However, when we talk about Mesopotamia as the
cradle of civilization, what we really mean is
SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA, the part that is close to the Persian Gulf where the culture of the
SUMERIANS, BABYLONIANS, AND
AKKADIANS was centered. This geographic region is encompassed within modern day IRAQ.
14) Going back in time from the Assyrians, the
Persians and the Babylonians, the time period in which we are now most interested is the so-called
URUK period, corresponding to 4000-3000 BCE
(i.e., 6000 years ago) and EPONOMOUSLY referring to the Mesopotamian city of that same name.

15) Uruk as a city is crucial to our understanding of civilization’ development because, archeologically, it provides us with our first evidence of new CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS,
TECHNOLOGIES, and POPULATION
PATTERNS. The emergence of the large CITY
(referred to by archeologists as the URBAN
REVOLUTION since the emergence of cities and civilization go hand-in-hand) as exemplified by
Uruk is the key variable here.
16) Relative to other excavated sites dating back to the same era, Uruk hold special status among archeologists as the “first city” because of (1) its
SIZE, which encompassed about 650 acres (as compared to 25 acres for digs dating to the previous era), which implies a population of approximately 40,000-50,000 people; (2) the presence of ECONOMIC SPECIALIZATION, which differs from earlier settlements in which
ALL INHABITANTS produced food. In Uruk, we find the development of a professional class whose primary responsibility was NOT food production
(i.e., craftsman, artisans, priests, government officials). And so, a city is NOT simply a large group of food producers, but instead is characterized by ECONOMIC DIVERSITY.
17) For Uruk, the PRIESTHOOD and the presence of RELIGION here requires special treatment, especially since the center of the city

was dominated by the presence of TEMPLE
COMPLEXES, thus indicating how crucial a role religion played in its inhabitant’s lives. These temples were raised up artificially and so could be seen from miles around, and thus were the predominant landmarks of the city.
18) One important God was ANU, the sky God or the God of Heaven; his temple was raised up to the sky on a platform of sun-dried mud brick; this was among the earliest forms of the raised temple form known as a ZIGGURAT, which is a Mesopotamian version of a PYRAMID which raises a temple high in the air so it get closer to the Gods. It was believed that the God actually lived in the temple, specifically in the statue representing the God in the center room of the temple.
19) Close to the statue of the God was an offering table, on which FOOD was sacrificed to the God.
The belief was that the Gods needed to be FED; in fact, FOOD PROCURMENT was viewed to be the reason why the Gods created humanity—humanity was to serve the Gods by providing them with food since the Gods didn’t want to go through the effort of raising it themselves! The Gods lived in their temples and people had to provide the food to feed them! This role for humanity is defined in the
ENUMA ELISH (deriving from when above, from its opening lines) which is the Mesopotamian creation myth.

20) The contents of the Enuma Elish have some interesting implications for our study. Apparently, the Gods did all of the farming and herding during the early days, but then tired of doing all the work themselves! And so, the King of the Gods,
MARDUK, created a new kind of creature (i.e.,
HUMANS) to do all the work for which the Gods had been previously responsible but now no longer wanted to do. And so, the temple was a place where the humans, in the form of SACRIFICES, would present the food for the God to consume.
21) However, the Mesopotamian Gods quickly tired of humanity because they were reproducing too quickly and getting too NOISY; the SLEEP of the Gods was being disturbed! And so, the Gods sent a flood to destroy humanity so that they could go back to sleep. They do this, but then realize that they have made a MISTAKE because now they must go back and work again!
22) However, one God named EA had the foresight to save one person and his family (he is called the BABYLONIAN NOAH; this story predates the Genesis account of Noah’s flood by at least 1000 years! We will have much more to say about this later!
23) Another important Goddess of interest is
Anu’s daughter INANNA (i.e., LADY OF

HEAVEN), also later known as ISHTAR, who was worshipped throughout Mesopotamia. She is the goddess of LOVE, SEX, and WAR who plays a very important role in the Mesopotamian Epic entitled “The Epic of Gilgamesh” which we will discuss during this lecture series. Ishtar’s priestesses were typically religious PROSTITUTES who symbolically re-enact creation mythology through sexual union.
24) Innana’s temple in Uruk establishes her as the chief deity there; her complex contains FIVE or
SIX separate, very large temples as opposed to her father’s ONE. From the standpoint of civilization, this points to the importance of ORGANIZED
RELIGION along with the vast RELIGIOUS
MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE that are the consequences of ECONOMIC SPECIALIZATION.
The thousands of persons whose labor was required to build these temples were not themselves FOOD PRODUCERS, and so the
SPECIALIZED efforts of others was required for that purpose.
25) Given the efforts that were dedicated to such projects, it makes sense to address the issue of why religion was so CENTRAL to this first URBAN civilization. As opposed to the INDUSTRIAL AGE, during which manufacturing could be brought indoors so that PRODUCTION could be maintained regardless of the weather, the chief

source of food procurement during the URUK period remained AGRICULTURAL, and so in a land and during a time when much of the variability in crop success remained BEYOND people’s control (i.e., soil richness, flooding, pestilence, etc.) perhaps PROPITIATING the Gods through obedience, animal sacrifice, and magnificent buildings represented their way of making allies instead of enemies of the DEITIES! It may also be that organized religion provided a
GUIDE for people regarding how to interact with each other when they no longer knew their neighbors because of the large SIZE of the community. Through ritual, listening to the priests, etc., people learned how to get along with hundreds—if not thousands—of others to whom they were not related—in the new scope of human culture this demand was very new!
26) The Uruk period also demonstrates the emergence of the first complex bureaucratic
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION, going well beyond chiefs and councils of elders; and so, the emergence of civilization in Mesopotamia also entails the emergence of the STATE.
27) The earliest states involve not just the people in the city, but those in the villages surrounding the city as well; it is a huge POLITICAL organization with multiple layers of control. The AUTHORITY of these states was centered in the CITY, hence the

term CITY STATES. Southern Mesopotamia was likely divided up into 15-20 of these states, each controlled by an Uruk-like city. In authority and from the standpoint of state leadership, the CITY has priority over the TOWN, which has priority over the VILLAGE, which in turn is more important than the HAMLET.
28) These new states are intimately connected with the TEMPLES; there are rulers but no PALACES, and so the POLITICAL and RELIGIOUS authority is probably INTERTWINED; and so there is no CHURCH-STATE separation—political and religious authority may even be identical. The king was believed to be the STEWARD of the
God’s property; the city was the God’s private estate and it was the King’s job to MANAGE the domain of his divine overlord! This gave the King the authority to order people what to do; one could say “I am your ruler by virtue of having been appointed by the Gods.” How can you argue against that!
29) And yet, such reasoning points to one of the fundamental characteristics surrounding the development of civilization: the rise of SOCIAL
INEQUALITY. Having a King appointed by the
Gods necessarily results in an authoritative hierarchy, made all the more powerful as a result of its DIVINE SANCTION. An intriguing question:
How did it happen that some members of society

allowed other members to assume positions of authority and thus greatly increase their own wealth
and power?
30) In addition to the CITY and the STATE, the
Mesopotamians also invented WRITING in order to manage the bureaucracy regarding issues such as TAXATION, FOOD SUPPLY
MANAGEMENT, etc. The reed stylus impressed on wet clay tablets (i.e., cuneiform) met this need.
Approximately 5000 tablets of this nature have been retrieved from Uruk; grain and sheep lists and administrative documents comprised the vast bulk of this material. However, beginning around the 1850’s, a set of tablets containing the story of an ancient King of Uruk was unearthed in the library of an ancient Assyrian King, and it is to this
Epic of Gilgamesh that we will next turn our attention!